


Not a Star in the Sky Burns Brighter

by rocknrollout



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Drabble, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Past Torture, Post-Episode: s13e20 Unfinished Business, Pre-Slash, mostly comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 04:57:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14489307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocknrollout/pseuds/rocknrollout
Summary: Physical pain certainly hurts but emotional pain leaves deep wounds that aren't easily healed. Sometimes, you need to talk about your issues. But sometimes, you just need to look up at the stars and remember to breathe.





	Not a Star in the Sky Burns Brighter

Once the bunker had gone quiet for the night, most of the residence either sleeping or occupying their time, Gabriel had slipped out the front door silently. He knew Dean wouldn’t think twice about dunking him in holy oil if he found out the archangel had left, but Gabriel couldn’t stay cramped up anymore. It’s not like he was planning on running away, he just…he wanted to see the stars. He had missed the stars.

Gabriel leaned back against the railing by the stairs to the bunker and looked up.

A full moon had taken up a prominent residence in the sky, the light casting vibrant shadows along the grassy hills and dirt road. Out in the middle of nowhere, the stars weren’t blocked out by light pollution. Even if they would have been to human eyes, Gabriel’s eyes were anything but human. He would never have a problem seeing the beauty in his creations. Opposed to popular belief, the sky hadn’t been his father’s creation. God had much too focused on humans themselves to consider what these humans would look towards. Gabriel had been the one to suggest putting some things “up there” to give the humans something to think about.

Gabriel couldn’t think about his family, and the good times they’d had, for long. It caused his grace to twist around his essence, strangling his very being with homesickness. He pulled his knees towards his chest, wincing from the pain still throbbing in his side. He’d been feeling better but after Loki knocked him around, any healing he’d been able to do had practically been reversed. It’d be a couple weeks at best before he was up to par. Gabriel wrapped his arms around the drawn knees, resting his head forward. The rough material of his jeans was a grounding force against his cheek. He’d been in this vessel for so long that it no longer felt like a vessel. This man— heavily altered to look like Loki- was Gabriel just as much as, if not more than, his true form.

Gabriel jerked his head backwards when he heard the door to the bunker creak open; he was tense, ready for the shouting to begin. To his surprise though, it wasn’t Dean, about to tear him a new one for “running away again.”

It was Sam. He was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a grey tee-shirt, wearing an old pair of sneakers. Gravel parted and crumbled as he walked up the stairs quietly and sat down next to Gabriel.

“Here to tell me to go back inside?” Gabriel whispered, staring at the tips of his boots.

“No,” Sam answered plainly, without much emotion. “Didn’t even know you were out here."

“Oh,” Gabriel replied softly. Sam sounded off, more resigned than normal. Gabriel turned to look at him and in the soft moonlight, he could see the hints of tear tracks and sunken-in eyes on Sam’s face. It was hard to look at him sometimes. The first thing Gabriel had noticed about the Winchester after his rescue was how much Sam’s soul had changed. Even after everything, Gabriel remembered that bright, warm soul from years ago. Before Lucifer took his anger out on Sam. He had wanted to wrap his grace around that beautiful soul from day one. To see how horribly Sam, one of the most selfless people around, had been treated by the world was agony. He deserved the best in the world and yet it didn’t seem like the kid got anything but crap thrown his way.  

 Sam was looking up at the stars, blinking slowly. “It’s not normally this clear out,” he mused.

 “You’re welcome.”

Sam turned to look at him, eyebrows bunched up together in confusion. “But your grace…?”

“Doesn’t take much juice to get rid of clouds. They’re just vapor,” Gabriel joked with a soft smile. After millennia, it was practically a natural occurrence anywhere near him.

Sam returned the smile, absently wiping a tear from his left eye. He wasn’t crying anymore, not actively at least, but his eyes were still covered in a light film of mist.  

They didn’t break eye contact for a few minutes. There was a heavy weight of feelings and questions hanging over them, surrounding them, but neither wanted to break the silence. Talk of nightmares and worlds ending and Lucifer could come later. Right now, though, they needed to just take in the moment.

Gabriel leaned his weight against Sam, who wrapped his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders and held him close. They both inhaled a breath only one of them needed and looked back up at the stars.    

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out with me at rocknrollout.tumblr.com


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